STARFALL: Episode One: The Roche Asteroid Field

[Jedi Skyler]

((OOC: Slight bit of retconning here...sorry for the delay.))

As Zinn's attention is drawn to the Verpine techs heading toward the ship, he keys his comlink, calling Banshee. "There are some Verpines coming on board, apparently intent on making repairs, or possibly even modifications. Take note of everything they do; in fact, feel free to offer to help. It'll give you a front row seat to whatever it is they're doing. Send a list of all work on the coded frequency to my datapad, along with requests you might have as to whether or not to allow something to be done." He then follows the party, being led by the huffy lieutenant.

((After the message from Mon Mothma...))

Zinn watches the message with a bit of a smile on his face; after all, it's not everyday one is privy to such momentous occasions. Too bad this couldn't be made public with the fanfare due someone of Ackbar's apparent skill.

As the message finishes and discussion starts, Zinn pipes up. "Sir, I'm not the most politic of people, so I'll just say what's on my mind: you might want to start observing that lieutenant who brought us here. I realize he may have simply been upset because our arrival wasn't blasted from the loudspeakers here, and it surprised him; however, his anger could also possibly have been because he's the Imperial mole, and realized that, with our arrival, his opportunity to foil this project, or at least to steal the data, prototypes, and probably even you, is rapidly vaporizing before his eyes. I don't mean to besmirch a loyal Alliance officer, but the safety of you and this project are paramount to anyone's feelings.

"That said, perhaps we'd better get a rundown of what schedules you've been running on; in particular, those schedules that anyone might have access to. Our mole could be a janitor for all we know, or even a maintenance droid; custodial and maintenance staff has access to places that not everyone can go. We'll need to check the log of communication from this facility to see if any carrier signals have been piggybacked on your normal comm traffic as well...that, or look for any unauthorized breaches of the area. Perhaps a simple message drone may have been sent out somehow. The possibilities are practically endless here, and it'd be of great help to know not only who the mole is, but how they're getting information out. We could then use that knowledge to supply false information that would help us get you out of here safely.

"As for the prototypes, are they being taken out for test flights? If so, perhaps we need not worry so much about posting false schedules; we could focus our subterfuge in another direction...perhaps by faking catastrophic failures in the fighters that result in explosions that destroy them. To make that plan work, we'd need to have our ship in position to pick the fighters up, so we could transport them out of the system without their hyperdrive trails being traced. To make the plan most effective, you'd need to be one of the pilots; the other pilot must be someone you can trust implicitly, better still if it's one of us. This person will have to be in on our plan, and will have to be ready to leave here without packing up their belongings, so no one suspects there was foreknowledge of them leaving. We can always send for their gear afterwards, once you and the prototypes are safely in Alliance hands."

He takes a deep breath. "I'm just brainstorming here, but we don't have much time. This mole is gonna act FAST, and we have to be ahead of them."

[max_vale]

Ackbar thanks all of you for your warm wishes upon hearing of his imminent promotion and attempts to answer all of your questions while calling SGT Glek and the Verpine technicians back into the room. "Well; the two prototypes are currently located at the Research station Shantipole Asteroid; which is located not far from this Command Base Asteroid. The B-wings have not yet been flown; and while they are a rather complicated craft from an Engineering perspective; I believe most pilots who can handle an X or Y-wing fighter would be able to fairly easily control it. We do have a couple of excellent test pilots over at the Shantipole Asteroid; and they have both been in combat situations before."

Moving to a different topic; Ackbar continues with;"This information about a possible spy is indeed most distressing. I wonder if-"; Ackbar is cut-off by the sound of warning sires echoing through the asteroid's chambers. The central com unit blares to life; "Hangar Bay to Captain Ackbar! Sir, an unidentified craft is approaching this asteroid at high speed and it is not responding to our hails. Wait.....IFF has positively identified it as an Imperial Assault Shuttle! Repeat; an Imperial-"; the voice is cut off as the Asteroid shudders from impacts.

Dust and small rocks rain down upon all of the Rebels in the room and the screens in the room flicker and flash. Ackbar turns to SGT Glek and says; "An Imperial Assault Shuttle carries a full 40 man platoon of Stormtroopers. There's no way these mostly pacifist Verpine and the few of us can hold out against an attack from such a force. We'll need to evacuate; give the order." The Quarren nods his head solemnly and turns to a com to do as ordered. "All personnel: this is an Emergency Evacuation; I repeat, an Emergency Evacuation. Report to the life-boat bays and evacuate as soon as possible; this is NO DRILL. May the Force be with you all."

The base shudders again as the assault shuttle continues its bombardment. With each explosion; the lights and computer monitors flicker. Ackbar turns to all of you and says in a serious, gravelly tone; "I need to dump all of the configuration files about the B-wing from these computers before evacuating and that will take a little bit of time. I'll need you and SGT Glek to gain that time; you understand?"

[kipper]

Clark, knowing he never was good with computers anyway, draws his Blaster Pistol. "Time to move. Where do you need me to be?", he asks SGT Glek directly.

[gavin storm]

Drawing his blaster and flicking the selector switch to kill, Gavin nods. "Loud and clear Admiral." Gavin nods to the Sgt, to signal that he was read and motions for him to lead the way.

[angelicdoctor]

Must this always result in fighting? It seems that warfare is the only trade in which this Imperial government specializes. Admiral, is there any way we can depressurize the hangar bay remotely?

[gavin storm]

Motioning with his thum, in Borsks direction, Gavin says. "Might be a good idea. Would hamper the Imperials getting a foot hold. Unless that shuttle is full of Imperial Space Troopers."

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn pipes up. "Sir, I have an astromech on board our ship; if your people can't remotely access your systems, perhaps Banished can help. They are, after all, known for using...creative methods for solving problems."

[max_vale]

Ackbar solemnly replies to the question; "I'm sorry my friends; the controls for the Hangar Bay pressure is also linked to the pressure for the life-boat bay on the opposite side of the asteroid. If we depressurize one bay; we depressurize both; I'm sorry." Glek makes a watery-sounding cough sound and upon the Rebels' looking over; he gestures for them to come over to his computer station. Ackbar begins to go to work on dumping all the information while the Rebels move over to the veteran Quarren soldier.

Glek makes room so that everyone can see the display map of the Command Base on the screen. Pointing out the Blast Doors he says; "Each Blast door is half a meter thick and constructed of enhanced titanium. It'll take those Stormtroopers a bit of time to cut through any one of them." He draws his Heavy Blaster Pistol and flicks off the safety. "Since it's pretty much just you five and me to slow them down; I'd recommend taking up a defensive position in the halls and shoot a few when they succeed in cutting through a Blast door and then falling back behind another Blast Door and repeating the process a few times. This should hopefully give the Captain enough time to get all the information out of the computers and to get to the life-boats. All of you out rank me though; so it's your call." The Asteroid shudders again under the blow of cannon fire and the Quarren finishes off with; "I'd make a decision quick though as I'm pretty sure they're about to start boarding operations in the Hangar Bay"....

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn asks, "Do we have any explosives? Not that I'm an expert by any means, but it seems that if we placed some low-level explosives on the doors, when they're breached, the bombs go off, and the Imps have a whole lot more to worry about. They won't know if we have set more or not, which might make them have to wait for a demolitions team to get on-site, which buys us more time. If not actual explosives, perhaps we can remotely cause a buildup that will detonate when the Imps break through..."

[gavin storm]

"If you don't have any, I have an idea." Gavin removes two powerpacks from his pack. "Ever see what happens when one of these explodes." Pausing to let his words sink in, he adds. "Ducktape two together."Pointing at the positive and negative terminals on the powerpack, he adds. "Wire them to explode and run like hell."

[angelicdoctor]

Losing his patience slightly, the Bothan spits, Kriff it, gents! Calling upon the light side of the Force to calm his nerves, the ripples of his fur relax as La'Reth regains his military bearing, as he heard it called amongst the Alliance infantry corps.

We have at our disposal the better weapon in this fight. Namely, this station. Of which, presumably our aggressors know very little. Though they are blasting the hell out of it, it is clear that the Imperials do not wish to destroy it before they have had their opportunity to board it. With an almost dispassionate tone, the Bothan Force-user addresses Glek.

Tell us about the safety features of this station. Does it include measures to mitigate hazards such as fire and other such maladies? I say let them through, lock the doors behind the main force and drop the lights then trigger these features to blind and/or choke them. Open doors as appropriate for them and like water they should take a path of least resistance especially if they are trying to escape whatever we have to throw at them. Guide them to an airlock and blow them out into the black. If not an airlock then some other location which might prove useful in either delaying or neutralizing this threat.

Pausing a moment longer to consider the map, the Bothan digs deep and calls upon the rather sly nature normally associated with his species.

Glek, where are the zero-G suits? We could don these outifts as the imperials attempt to cut through the doors. Then, we simply turn off the atmospheric generators and let the hostile vacuum of space do the work for us as we make our way to our escape vessels.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn looks at the Bothan. "Your thought process has merit, but some of the specifics are a little raw; fire suppression measures won't necessarily stop stormtroopers; their equipment has the ability to augment low-light or visibility situations." He raises an eyebrow. "However, the zero-g option might work...but we're gonna have to get station personnel either suited up or two escape craft NOW. We don't want them to come into the crosshairs of the Imperials."

[max_vale]

(Apologies for not making this clear before; everyone is currently in the Command Center; marked room number 2 on the map)

Glek responds to some of the questions and ideas being bandied about by the Rebel team while also pulling out a pocket computer datapad and punching in a few codes into it. "No; we don't have any explosives; but yeah; a couple of powerpacks wired the right way will make a decent makeshift grenade....but a bit of an unstable one; so be careful if you go that route."

"We can impact the atmosphere controls by shutting down the Atmosphere Generators (room labelled 1 on the map); but this will affect us and the Verpine trying to escape more than the Impies. Stormtroopers have built in vaccuum protection and a limited supply of oxygen in their armor; in addition to low-light vision; so I don't think that's a good idea. Also; we can't turn of the gravity unless we shut all of the power down; which is pretty much a no-no for us and the Captain while we're still on this rock. It's something to keep in mind though; for a last resort if needed." (The Main Power Generators are in room labelled 7)

"There are about a dozen utility spacesuits where the Atmosphere Generators are; so if we're gonna need them; that's where we should go. Also; the only airlocks are located there as well; to allow manintenance on the repulsor and sensor dishes located on the exterior of the Asteroid." (Room 1) With that; he also finishes typing on his computer pad and looks up; "Okay; I've got control of the blast doors rigged to this Pocket Computer; right now all the Blast Doors are shut; but it will let me know if one is destroyed, overriden or whatever; as well as allowing me to open or shut any doors I want. My vote is to have some or all of you move to the Rec area (room 6 on the map) where lots of cover is available and where one of the two blast doors leading out of the Hangar bay lead. If they burn thru that blast door; you're in a good spot to bottle them up and do some damage."

"I'd choose to stay; either by myself or with some of you; in the hallway behind where the other blast door leading into the Hangar Bay is waiting; ready to do the same thing."

At about that moment; the unmistakable shudder and sounds of a ship landing in the Hangar Bay echoes throughout the Asteroid Base. Glek looks grim and finishes with; "But I suggest you decide quick; looks like the party is about to start".

[kipper]

Clark will lead the way to the Rec Room.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn frowns. "If the only access into this asteroid is through the generator room, we should lay hands on those utility suits; the Imps could easily cut power to the facility when they come through here," (he points at the generator room on the map), "and without the suits, we'd all be dead, and the Imps would get the prototypes with no resistance. Then, they could restore power and take all the data from the computers at their leisure."

Looking at Glek, Zinn adds, "Do you have holocams throughout the facility? If so, can we tie feeds to our datapads?" He pulls his own datapad out. "It'd be handy to at least see what the Imps are throwing our way..."

[max_vale]

Glek responds to Zinn's question with a none-too-pleased tone in his voice; "No....apparently the Verpine aren't very security conscious as they really can't fathom the idea of crime. They have no cameras and it was quite an effort to convince them to install the Blast Doors"; the Quarren clearly has a lot more negative thoughts on this subject that he'd like to get into; but he controls himself. "Okay; you guys go grab some vacc suits; I'm gonna go set up a quick couple of barricades in the hallway leading out of the Hangar Bay; you guys slow them down in the Rec Room and then fall back from there. He tosses a comlink to Zinn and tells him the frequency he's using. "Stay in contact and may the Force be with you." With that he readies his Heavy Blaster pistol in one hand and his pocket computer in the other and heads out.

The rebel group quickly makes there way to the Atmosphere Generator room (room # 1 on the map) and there eyes open wide at the sight of dozens of meter-thick pipes leading into several generators and the three tunnels that are clearly marked as leading to airlocks on the edge of the asteroid wall. Several lockers are opened and quickly the alliance members slip on utility vacuum suits. They had just moved into the huge communal living quarters (room number 4 on the map) and into the recreation room (room number 6); when they saw the red-hot slag dripping down the edges of the Blast Door leading from this room to the Hangar Bay. Clearly the Imperials were about to cut-through. A pair of nearby tables are dragged over and flipped on their side to kneel behind as some cover as a call from Glek on the comlink confirms the situation.

"This is Glek; the locks on both Blast Doors are compromised; expect the Impies to breach both in about a minute. I'm guessing probably a squad of 8 troopers ready to assault through both doors. Best of luck!"; the Quarren quickly gets out in a clipped tone. The sound of an explosion is heard both through the com link and can be faintly heard echoing through the asteroid itself and then the sounds of Blaster fire; letting everyone know that SGT Glek has engaged the enemy. The rebels thoughts are immediately drawn back to the present however when a loud explosion roars through the room as the Blast door explodes open in hunks as the Imperials cut there way through. The familiar sight of white-armored Stormtroopers are seen through the hazy smoke; moving into the room quickly with Blaster carbines at the ready....

[gavin storm]

Following the group into the rec room, Gavin keeps his blaster in his and and set to kill. Upon hearing the blast doors had been compromised, he turns tpwards the doors and drops to a combat crouch, blast pointing at the doors, as he does. On reflex, Gavin snaps off two blaster shots in the direction of the approaching Stormtroopers, as they make thier way into the room through the blast hole.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn sets the comlink to the appropriate frequency, then tucks it away and draws his blaster. Mindful not only of Borsk's distress at so many deaths in this war, but also of the need to gather intel and materiel, Zinn sets his blaster to stun as he gets behind an overturned table. He aims his blaster at the point where the troopers will be entering; when they begin pouring into the facility, he aims at the first trooper and takes two shots.

[kipper]

Clark fires his blaster pistol as soon as he sees the white of the stormtroopers coming through the debris of the door.

((Set to kill... somehow this feels more like Star Trek than Star Wars to me , even though I do recall Vader ordering Leia to be stunned in the first movie ).

[max_vale]

As a squad of eight stormtroopers burst into the rec room; they are met with a volley of blaster bolts by the Alliance team of Agents who have set themselves up behind a makeshift barricade to meet them....

Gavin fires a pair of shots; one of which drills a Stormtrooper high in the chest and he spins slightly and falls unmoving to the ground. At about the same time a pair of blue stun rings is fired from Zinn's blaster pistol and both slam into a second trooper who falls to the ground in an unconscious heap. Finally; Clark fires a blast at the Stormtroopers; but his shot narrowly misses its target and blows out a fist-sized hunk of masonry from the wall of the room.

Borsk and Grey Star drop down behind some cover as the remaining half-a-dozen Stormtroopers return fire. A few of the bolts slam into the makeshift cover and cause bits of blasted table to rain down on the Rebel Alliance members; but luckily, no one is injured so far....